Clara O'Dea

Clara O'Dea (24 February 1856-) was the leader of a group of child pickpockets in London, England during the Victorian Era.

Biography
Born in 1856, Clara was the only child of the less-fortunate O'Dea family. Like many Irish women, Clara's mother was an indentured servant to an upper-class household in the Strand. Sneaking into the family's private lessons, Clara picked up as much as she could, devouring the education her parents could never afford to give her. Unfortunately, after being wrongly accused of theft, Clara's mother was dismissed from her job and was forced to find other means of survival. By the time she turned ten, Clara had become the sole breadwinner in her household. Her father having left the family a year prior, and her mother bedridden and sick with grief, Clara took to the streets to support what little family she had left. The orphaned children with whom she found kinship gave her a sense of belonging that she had never experienced before. Courageous and charismatic, Clara, now orphaned herself, grew up to be a remarkable young businesswoman and helped to provide for children in need by 1868.

That year, she became an associate of the Rooks gang of the Frye Twins in Whitechapel, London, and she joined them after they freed some child laborers from a factory run by the rival Blighters gang. In exchange for their help, she assisted them with her ring of pickpocketers.